Mushroom Kingdom
by allyxvolta
Summary: With their homeworld lost, their friends missing, and the whole cosmos tearing at the seams, reluctant adventurers Arc, Sophia, and Inari must explore 11 classic video game worlds to recover the mystic Triforce. Only then will they have a chance to save the universe and reunite with the people they love. Mushroom Kingdom is the perfect marriage between fanfic and fantasy novel.
1. Prologue: The Warlock & the Traveler

**Author's Note: **Just a note on the chapter structure. Rather than going by individual chapters, this story is broken up into serials called "Worlds," each consisting anywhere from 3 to 6 chapters. This means that you don't have to start at the beginning of the story. Each World begins as its own story for newcomers, while the overarching plot continues seamlessly for those who have kept up to date. Not a fan of a particular franchise? Skip that World entirely and read about one you like. You can even suggest characters and worlds to explore in future chapters. _Mushroom Kingdom_ is your journey too.

**World 0  
**

**The Warlock and the Traveler**

From across the empty stone chamber, the Triforce looked like a pyramid of golden light. The warlock had waited a thousand lifetimes to take it and now, it was within his grasp, undefended upon its pedestal.

"Lovely, isn't it?" his voice cracked with delight. He threw a huge, darkly armored arm in front of his traveling companion.

"I just want a closer look," said the traveler.

"This is as far as you go," said the warlock, "I thank you for your assistance, but it's time you returned to your own world."

"I can handle it,"

The traveler was thin in the limbs and average in height. If push came to shove, it would be a short fight indeed, especially with the state of the man's hands. The right was unremarkable, but the left never stopped twitching. Whether he was asleep or awake, the fingers were always flexing and contorting like a shackled beast, struggling to be free. He always kept his left hand behind his back or in his coat pocket, where none could see it. The warlock wondered if there was a reason why the traveler never removed his clean white gloves. Perhaps they were scarred or bore some ghastly disease, maybe they held something deeper and darker still: some twisted arcane magic. For a moment, he felt that it'd be prudent to snap the man's neck to nip any suspicions in the bud, but in the throes of triumph, he was feeling merciful. A future king must be merciful, and he who claimed the Triforce was king of everything that is, was, or will ever be.

The warlock threw back his cloak and strode for the pedestal; "I'll take my prize now. Make way, peasant."

"Your Majesty," said the traveler with a bow.

The light was warm, soothing. It shined right through the warlock's black gauntlet, into his garish green skin, into his heart and soul. He could feel its magic surging through every hair and sinew of his being. It was like his every one of his flaws was being burned away to make way for godhood. "It's mine!" he screamed and threw his head back to laugh. His vision filled with light, his ears rang with something like beautiful music, then nothing. The energy retreated from his body, leaving a sharp, cold pain. Something had torn right through his armor and into his back. He braced himself to keep standing.

"Sorry," said the traveler. A blue light flickered out in his left palm. The hand was still grotesquely snapping and twisting, "I thought that one shot would do the job."

The warlock snarled like a boar enraged. In his hands, a huge, jagged black sword appeared. He spun around and ran for the traitor, the blade sparking across the floor. The traveler did not even move to defend himself, but raised his white gloved right hand and snapped his fingers. The warlock brought the blade down like a guillotine over the traveler's head and hit only air. Strength left warlock's limbs. He fell to his hands and knees. The sword vanished in a cloud of shadow.

"No hard feelings, Ganondorf," said the traveler, making his way towards the Triforce.

The wound in Ganondorf's back became colder and more painful. It spread throughout his body like a cancer. Piece by piece, his veins, his flesh, bones, and organs turned to hard crystal.

"I'll take my prize now," said the traveler from the Triforce's pedestal, "Stand aside, peasant."

"You'll never have it," Ganondorf croaked. The spell had begun to seize his vitals, but he managed to rise to his knees. He could feel his toes chipping, the skin of his cheeks hardening and flaking.

The traveler reached his twisted hand into the light, "Too late."

"For you," with most of his remaining strength, Ganondorf pointed a palm towards the Triforce. Black magic pulsed through his arm and out of his hand. The spell sank into the golden light like water into a rag. His arm, still outstretched, turned to crystal. His fingertips cracked and clattered across the floor. Low, hateful laughter rose from his throat. This defeat was meaningless. In a short hundred years or so, he'd reincarnate and pick up where he left off.

The golden glow vanished in an instant. Without its light, the relic was only about three feet in height. It resembled a flat gold triangle of three large, identical triangles, connected at the corners. Each third was all made up of an endless network of smaller, interlocking triangles, which in turn were made of even smaller triangles, continuing in an endless pattern until the segments were too small to see. The traveler ran his hand all over it, desperately searching for a way to reactivate its magic, but he was too late. The whole room began to rumble. Black light flared out from the Triforce. Its countless pieces came loose and clacked together faster and faster, until the rattling became a shrill whistle, then an awful, dissident wail.

"What have you done?!" demanded the traveler over the noise, but before he could have an answer, the Triforce exploded. Its pieces shot out into the air and vanished. Not a single gold glimmer was left in the chamber. All was silent. The traveler had been too hasty and made a terrible mistake, "All the worlds will suffer for this."

"Let them suffer," the dying man said, "You've not won this day. I'll return again, and again, and again until you're destroyed." And then, he became still and silent. The traveler left the broken statue behind to break down into dust.

In that moment, a thousand on a thousand shooting stars cut along the skies of a thousand on a thousand worlds.

* * *

**Author's Commentary:** Hello and welcome to _Mushroom Kingdom_. I'll end each chapter with a few words on the process and events of the story.

This story was actually written circa 2005-8, but after stumbling upon it on an old flashdrive, I've decided to finally publish it as a way to appease the lingering ghost of my teenage self. I hope it still holds up.

Though this chapter comes off like the usual action opener found in so many fics, this chapter is more revealing than it lets on. There are layers here that will be peeled away as the story progresses. The idea was to follow the strange and intriguing prologues of so many action-packed 1990's fantasy novels. I hope this dip into the fountain was enough to interest you, because it's only going to get bigger from here, and you don't start much bigger than a duel with the King of Evil himself.

As a character, I wanted to approach Ganondorf a little differently than he was in Ocarina of Time. I've always thought, that since he'll just come back to life later on, he would view death as a setback. For someone who's died so many times, he always seems pretty bummed about taking a sword in the forehead. As far as I know, unlike Link and Zelda, there's only one Ganondorf, so why don't his evil plans ever carry over from one life to the next? It was an interesting way to go about him. Expect more from the big green guy later on.

**Next Chapter: **In the town of Journées, the cycle of day and night is dictated by a magic clock tower, but time is running out. With five days until the end of the world, four unlikely heroes are chosen to become something greater than their selves and save their home. The adventure begins in _World 1-1: Chain of Memories._


	2. World 1-1: Chain of Memories

**World 1-1: Chain of Memories**

**5 Days Remaining**

"_You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"_

A shooting star cut across the night sky. Arc didn't remember going outside. In fact, he didn't remember where he was before now. _Main _Street, he realized, _I'm on Main _Street_. How did I get here?_ Nothing seemed out of place, but something was wrong. Every shop was closed, all was silent, and nothing moved. It was as if the town had been abandoned overnight. His footsteps sounded like gavels in the emptiness, and the only light keeping the shadows at bay were streetlamps and the face of the clock tower. The tower stood as a one-eyed guardian, black against the starry sky.

_"Go on, have a look_," said a voice. It neither sounded like a man's voice nor a woman's. What's more, it was coming from the clock tower. Against his better judgment, Arc followed. Anything was better than staying out in the quiet night. Even in the stillness, he felt eyes on the back of his neck.

The tower echoed with the churning of pulleys and the clanking of gears. The tower seemed empty. The lights were off, but a series of stained glass windows glowed faintly all the way up the spiraling stairs to the top.

"Hello?" Arc called up into the dark. The voice did not respond. He began his ascent. The stained glass windows ran alongside the stairs so that those climbing could look out at the town below. They were taller than he was, and each displayed a different picture, though he could have sworn they were different before. Before, they depicted historical figures and important scenes from the town's past. Now, they were more. Too familiar. Instead of armored warriors and saints, he saw his own cowlicked hair and dull blue eyes recreated in glass. The first window depicted his earliest memory, the day his sister was born. He was three at the time. A little farther up was the first time he met Sophia. He was five and she was six. He saw the day his father left, his seventh birthday, and the first time he hung out with the cool older kids Ubi and Taito. The day Ubi's mother died was there, the time Taito didn't make the track team and was depressed for a week, even the time that Sophia broke her ankle. There were trips to the beach, school days, birthdays, and long afternoons spent hanging out atop the Clock Tower. All of his memories, the good times and the bad were there, immortalized in glass with religious reverence.

_"What is life but a finite chain of memories?" _The voice had no source. It was as if the darkness itself were speaking.

"Am I dreaming?" said Arc. He stopped to feel one of the windows, his first day of high school, exactly the way he remembered it.

"_Technically, no. It's complicated and we're short on time. Now behold as I appear before your very eyes!"_

Nothing happened.

_ "Well, that was embarrassing,"_ said the voice, _"These Twilight Gates are tricky. You never know what won't work."_

"Who are you?"

_"I'm a messenger. I came here as a courtesy, to warn you about what's coming."_

"Why should I trust you? I haven't even seen your face."

"_Oh, shush and listen. That light you saw wasn't a shooting star."_

"Then what was it?"

"_I don't know. But it's called a Triforce Shard. Wherever it ends up, tragedy follows. You and your friends are in danger."_

"What are you talking about? What danger?"

"_Please, just hear me. We're almost out of time. When the man in black finds it, it'll be too late. You have to protect the shard."_

"Why me?"

"_Because you're the only one asleep. I couldn't reach your friend Ubi in time." _

"What's Ubi got to do with this?" Arc touched a picture of a red-headed girl. He noticed that Taito, Sophia, and Ubi all but stopped appearing less and less in the pictures as he went higher. Their absence left him feeling cold.

"_Don't be sad, Arc," _said the voice, _"Your adventure is just beginning."_

_BZZZT! _

Arc's phone rumbled against his desk. He'd fallen asleep in detention for the second time that week. Afternoon light poured into the room in white shafts and in the distance, a crowd thumped and roared. A Strikeball game was going on. He checked his phone, one message from Sophia: "Taito's hurt. Boys' locker room. Hurry! - Sophia"

The teacher was nowhere in sight. Perhaps she got bored of guarding a sleeping teenager. Arc leapt up, threw on his uniform jacket, and ran out of the room, dragging his book bag behind him. How could Taito be hurt? He was the best player in town. Things like that just didn't happen.

"It's Arc the lad!" said a handsome mass of sweat and muscle. Taito sat on a bench while Professor Raine Sage attended to his wounds, "Don't look at me like that. It's not bad, some guy wasn't looking where he was swinging his bat and barfed me something fierce, like they say in River City." In the game of strikeball, to _barf _was to get _utterly creamed._

Professor Sage brushed a silver lock out of her eye, "Good afternoon, Arc. Can you help keep Taito still?"

Sophia was leaning with arms crossed against a locker, "I didn't mean to freak you out, Arc. Hedgehog here was being a crybaby."

Taito felt his spiky, navy blue hair as if it had been offended, "Hedgehogs aren't blue – ow! Watch it with that ice pack, Professor."

"Mister Taito, can you kindly ask your friends to wait outside?"

"You can try. I can't ever shake 'em."

Without warning, Sophia turned around and stormed off, her violet eyes flashing.

"What did I say? Sophia, wait!"

"I'll go talk to her," said Arc, taking off down the hall.

"No, Arc!" Taito called out, but Arc didn't stop. Something kept him going, a need to patch up any crack in their friendship.

Just before he left earshot, Arc heart Professor Sage mutter, "It's okay, she told me everything." He wondered what that could have meant.

He caught up to her on the front steps. She was sitting on the handrail, staring at her feet.

"I guess that was a little dramatic," she said.

"A little."

Sophia was pretty even when she was mad. The gold sunlight played in her violet hair, setting it to shimmer like a sunset. "He just never thinks before he speaks, you know?"

"I don't think at all and you don't get mad at me."

She chuckled at that, "You'll understand one day."

All of a sudden, Arc felt like he was missing something. He searched his head for a question until the doors flew open and Taito emerged from the school, wearing his yellow and blue strikeball uniform the way a knight wears armor. A long, flat bat was slung over his shoulder.

"You're not going to stay and watch the rest of the game?" said Sophia as if nothing had happened.

"Nah, I can't stand to see those guys bumble around without me. Where's Ubi?"

"Don't know. She keeps texting me about something."

"You too?" said Taito, "She keeps saying 'Can't wait to show you guys. Super cool!' And stuff like that."

Arc swallowed a pang of sadness. She hadn't sent him a word all day.

"Well, let's get going," said Sophia, "I don't want to see you try to explain why the captain couldn't go down with the ship."

"The crew's gotta learn to fend for themselves," said Taito with a shrug. With that, they set off down the steps and into town.

The little ice cream colored shops of downtown Journées rolled by, their swinging wooden signs and their big glass windows offering everything from antiques to art supplies to dance classes. The Clock Tower rose above it all. Its many hands and dials turned towards 5 o'clock, Day 245, Saturday, Afternoon, Summer.

Without the Clock Tower, there was no day and night. By some mysterious power, the clock allowed the moon to rise, the sun to set and the seasons to change. All the towns looked upon it like a protector, but in moments like these, it was like an artist. Just as a painter colors his canvas, the Clock Tower was the mechanism that turned the sky gold and the clouds pink. The first autumn leaves drifted along Main Street with an early night breeze.

"Guys, wait!" When Ubi caught up, her face was almost as red as girl her wild curls. Her band uniform was all wrinkled from running.

"Everyone's skipping something today," said Sophia.

"I know, but I left a note. Mr. Uematsu won't mind."

Taito smirked, crossed his big bronze arms, "So, what's this thing you wanted to show us?"

"Yeah, it's pretty cool, look."

Ubi reached into an interior pocket and pulled out a gold triangle, about two inches in diameter.

"It's a thing!" Taito announced, "Well, that was anticlimactic."

"What is it?" said Sophia as Ubi handed it to her.

"It's a piece of a shooting star."

Arc felt something drop in the pit of his stomach, "A what?"

"Yeah, it came off a star. It happened last night."

Sophia handed the piece to Taito. "I think you should start from the beginning," he said.

"Well, I was up last night, when I heard something go "_NEEEEOW!"_ right over my head, so I looked out the window and this big gold shooting star is streaking across the sky. A piece chipped off and fell really close by. So, I got up and followed it. It was in a crater in the woods near the school. The thing was so hot I had to pick it up with my sleeve."

"I think you found someone's lost jewelry," said Taito.

"It's perfectly symmetrical," Sophia said, "This couldn't have fallen off a meteorite. I think Taito might be right for once."

Taito shrugged, "I'll take it where I can get it."

"Maybe it's dangerous!" Arc blurted out. All eyes turned to him. Suddenly, he felt smaller.

"You're so weird sometimes, I swear," Sophia said, then turned to Ubi, "Are you going to keep it?"

"Of course. It'll be my lucky, uh, thing."

"Shard," said Arc.

"Yeah, shard!" Ubi tucked away her now-lucky shard in a jacket pocket and all four of them strode along on their way home.

As the shops turned to houses and the clouds turned to cotton candy, Ubi and Taito went their separate ways. Only Sophia and Arc were left walking home. Sophia didn't dislike Arc, but of the four of them, they tended to get along the least. He was like a little brother: immature, odd, not very bright, but easy to forgive, even when he was being strange.

"Hey, wait!"

Sophia stopped, startled, "What is it?"

"You didn't see him?"

She held her knuckles on her hips, "See whom?"

"That guy, or that kid, or I don't know. He was pretty short."

"What are you even talking about?"

"The kid in the mask. He was like this tall," he raised his hand up to his stomach, "And he was wearing all red, like robes or a hoodie or somehting."

Sophia continued on her way, "I'm not falling for it."

Arc copied her pace, "No, really, he was right there!"

"Yeah? Doing what?"

"I don't know. Just kinda staring at you."

Sophia felt a cold finger travel down her back, but she didn't let it show, "You're seeing things."

"Probably," Arc's lips smiled, but his eyes were still. When they split, Sophia walked home a little faster that evening.

"Mom, Arc's late again! He was in detention!"

"Atari!" Arc protested, "Was not. Taito got hurt."

"I know," Mom said from her bedroom, "After detention. Professor Sage called me at the office."

"When did she start calling you at work?"

Atari ran off into the kitchen as fast as her little feet would carry her, "Arc's in trouble!"

"Arc's not in trouble until after dinner," Mom called back.

Atari smiled like a happy cat, "What'd you do this time?"

Arc followed her in and dropped into his spot at the table and switched the countertop TV on, "Nothing, they've just got it out for me."

"I'm sure they do," Mom appeared in the kitchen to deal take-out from Super Meatboy. Side by side, she and Atari looked like funhouse mirror reflections of one another. One was short and squishy, one was taller and wore business casual like a champ. Other than that, they shared nearly everything. The only likeness Arc bore with either of them was the color of his eyes, a clear but unremarkable blue.

Television droned in the background. The local reporter Jade droned on about the goings on at Town Hall, local events, and the impending Rebirth Festival. Arc's ears perked up when Taito's strikeball game appeared onscreen, "And just in time for the Rebirth Festival, the strikeball season is upon us. The Journey High Gears faced off against the River City Raccoons this afternoon. The Gears lost three to five after star player Taito suffered a minor injury." Footage played of Taito receiving a rogue bat to the side. The offending River City player knelt next to him along with Sophia and Professor Sage. It was a mistake that would have broken anyone else's ribs into splinters, but Taito was made of will and iron.

"Baaarf!" Atari pounded the table with her soft fists.

Mom rubbed her chin, "Is Taito okay?"

"He's fine," Arc said with a mouth full of noodles, "Walked it off. You know him."

"You should try out for strikeball. You could wear padding and I bet Taito can teach you better than that coach."

He shook his head, "Nah, not my thing."

"You should do something. Your friends are all good at something."

"Ubi's practically a genius and Sophia's not good at anything, she's just too rich to suck."

"Don't be rude,"

Atari laughed until Mom eyed her to obedience.

As if shot with a tranquilizer, Arc suddenly felt sad and tired,"Can I be excused?"

Mom sighed, "Go ahead. I'll be mad at you later."

With that, Arc trudged off and dropped onto his bed. He sent the same text to Ubi, Sophia, and Taito: "What R U up 2?" but only got a reply from Ubi, a passive "Can't talk, composing." He felt small compared to them, not just because they were older and more popular. He was like a leftover piece in a completed puzzle.

As he drifted off, he remembered back to summer break. His feet dangled off the Clock Tower parapet as he watched drips of melting ice cream fall into the open air below. "Hey, Taito?" he said, breaking their silence.

"Yeah?" Taito was in a good mood that day. He'd dodged his swordplay lessons to hang out with Arc, something he hadn't done in weeks.

"Why don't you have a girlfriend?"

Taito's voice wavered for a moment. He scratched his head nervously, "I don't know. Why? Scared someone's gonna take me away?"

Ever since Taito became a star strikeballer, Arc felt the link between them becoming thinner. Taito and Sophia were absent more often than not, and Ubi was always with her band. They were all blocks of ice, melting and drifting apart into the sea. "Are you going to go off to college?"

"Hope so. What, are you gonna follow me?"

"Of course. You and me and Sophia and Ubi – we can all go together." He didn't realize how sad he sounded until he said it.

Taito laughed, ruffled Arc's hair, "Don't worry, little one, I'm not going anywhere yet."

"It's just that you haven't been around much."

"Okay, mom."

"You're right. I sound stupid. Nevermind."

"Hey," Taito met his eyes, "Even when we're doing our own thing, we'll never lose sight of one another. Life is scary, Arc. It's dangerous to go alone."

"Taito,"

Taito laughed again, "You're so mushy, I don't even need a girlfriend."

Arc punched him in the arm. Taito snorted and spat out a chunk of ice cream. They both laughed together, and laughed and laughed long after it wasn't funny anymore.

_The shard._ The thought appeared in his head, a shock of white light in the darkness. He didin't want to believe that his adventure in the tower wasn't just a dream. He wanted there to be something more. Maybe he was just looking for distractions. No matter what Taito said, the distance between them only became longer and colder. He didn't want to grow up and become an adult without Ubi or Sopia or Taito in his life.

* * *

**Author's Commentary: **With this chapter, the story begins with a whimper. The lack of actual fanservice this early in the fic may not be you Nintendo diehards' cup of tea, but I ask you to check it out, stick with it for a little while, hang out with these kids for a couple more chapters and see how this all ties in with Mario and Link and co.

I've received a couple criticisms that, at nine pages, this chapter is long for a _whole_ fanfic, let alone the first chapter. That's probably true, but I have a story to tell. I wanted to do something relatively new in fanfiction and use OC's not to annoyingly insert the author into the story, but to be the audience's POV in all these strange and wonderful worlds like Hyrule and the titular Mushroom Kingdom. There are countless stories untold with video game characters and my intent with _Mushroom Kingdom _is to tell them.

**Next Chapter: **With four days to the apocalypse, Sophia receives a dangerous gift. Arc meets a traveler from another world, and is Taito keeping a secret? Worlds collide in _World 1-2: Second Sight_.


	3. World 1-2: Second Sight

**World 1-2: Second Sight**

**4 Days Remaining**

Sophia had a dream in which she followed a shooting star into the Clock Tower. All the way up, she heard a soft scratching noise, like paws on wood. Now and then, she would stop and look around to find no one. She figured she had to be dreaming. Not only had she suddenly found herself in the tower with no explanation, but all the stained glass windows had been changed and now glowed with eerie light. Each window depicted a different scene that, despite its strangeness, she could have sworn she had seen before. One involved a man with green skin, a woman in a white dress and a boy with a blue sword. Another featured a winged boy firing arrows at a wolf. Others depicted a pair of hands clutching a rainbow ribbon that spiraled into the night sky, a city beneath the waves, a crystal and a green-haired girl, a man with wings on his cap._ Scratch, scratch, scratch. _Sophia turned around and called, "Who's there?" Just below her, something glinted in the dark, squeaked, and vanished downstairs. Sophia went head up.

At the top of the staircase, she came to a rounded room set with three more huge stained windows. These were not tableaus, but portraits: one of herself, one of Ubi, and one of Taito. Each was in profile with a serene, closed-eyed expression, as if sleeping. Stranger still were the triangles. In each window, back of each of the right hand was marked by a differently colored triangle. Sophia's own mark was blue, Taito's was red, and Ubi's was green. She touched her own portrait and wondered what it meant. If dreams were reflections on reality, there had to be an explanation.

_"Ooh, look, another one,"_

Sophia spun, "Who's there? Were you the one following me?"

_"Nice to meet you too. Might your humble disembodied voice suggest not panicking? We're short on time. And no, I wasn't following you."_

Sophia straightened her cardigan, stood firm, "I don't know what's going on, but this is my dream and you need to tell me where I am."

_"And I thought you were the polite one. Very well. First of all, this is no dream, but a Twilight Gate. Think of it like a- well- Think of it like a bubble of reality in an ocean of dream. I brought you here to help you through this ordeal. I'm sure you have many questions."_

"So this is real?"

"_What did you expect, another dream sequence?" _

Sophia couldn't hear the voice over the whirring in her head. She had the pieces before she'd even known there was a puzzle. Now she was putting them together, "The shooting star- Who are you?"

_"If I tell you my name, then we'll both be in trouble. Just know that I'm a friend with a very important message, so listen. You and your friends are chosen for a very important task. Do you remember what guided you up here in the first place?"_

"A shooting star, just like the one Ubi saw."

_"That was no shooting star. In fact, it is a very dangerous shard of a much more dangerous whole. They call it a Triforce Shard."_

"'Shard.' Yeah, I thought that was beyond Arc's vocabulary," she muttered to herself, "Arc was here too."

_"I visited Arc, but he wasn't too helpful. Still, he's part of this battle in some way."_

"Part of what? Just tell me what's going on."

_"It's all about that shard. It's extremely powerful. I'm not sure what it does, but a whole lot of bad people want it, and they'll do anything to get it. It's your job to make sure that doesn't happen."_

"Is someone coming to take it?"

"_A man in black. He's brought countless worlds to their knees for those shards. It's your job to make sure he doesn't get it."_

"No, that's ridiculous," Sophia objected, "This is a dream. "

"_Tell that to Arc."_

Sophia fell silent, then gathered herself enough to reply, "Well, who is he? How do I stop him?"

"_That is where I can't help you. You're the one with the gift, not I. All I know is that your world is in grave danger and that little trinket is your key to survival."_

"Well, how long do I have? Give me something to work with."

"_Four days."_

_DONG. DONG. DONG. DONG. _Suddenly, all she could see was fire and silhouettes of buildings. A long, sharp scream went off like a siren in her head. Whose screams, her own? She was screaming and on her knees, blind to all but dark visions. _DONG. DONG. DONG. _Her eyesight filled with images of fire and death, little men in white masks, a man with green skin and a beast with great horns. People she knew and loved were being reduced to dust, and at the center of it all, a man draped in black. Over the nightmare, the screaming, the Clock Tower rang its deep _DONG. DONG. DONG. DONG. _The man in black came ever closer, and she saw Arc, Ubi, and Taito struck with terror, then a black vortex. _DONG. DONG. DONG. DONG._

Something hit her like an electric shock. She convulsed and fell into darkness. As she woke, she heard scratching like paws on wood, fading, leaving, gone. Sunlight shined through her eyelids and she sat up.

_BZZZT!_ Arc slapped at his bedside table until he found his phone. He'd received two messages, one from Sophia and one from Ubi. He opened Ubi's first,

"kiddo. meet me at kirby's in half an hour"

Sophia's text read:

"Hey, Arc. We need to talk (no, you're not in trouble.) I'll meet you at the Clock Tower today. Let me know when you're on you're free. –Sophi."

Arc decided to meet Ubi first. He threw on some clothes, stuffed his allowance jar in his backpack, and went to meet her. 9AM was impossibly early, but no time was a bad time for Mr. Barten's home made ice cream.

Downtown Journées was packed with commuters and early shoppers. Even the Kirby's mascot was outside waving in customers. He always wondered what the suit was supposed to look like. To him, it seemed to be a pink blob with nubs for arms. Ubi had once told him that the shop owner Mr. Barten had met the blob in a dream, but that didn't explain anything. Inside, Ubi was nibbling on a bar of green tea ice cream. As soon as he pulled up a seat beside her, she handed him a bar of sea salt ice cream: the only flavor he'd ordered for the past six years.

"Morning, kiddo." Ubi said, "Got cash?"

Arc shook his bag. The coins rattled loudly inside.

"Good, because we totally forgot to get everyone's presents."

"So, you want me to shop with you?"

"No, I'm making sure you get me something." Ubi reached into her green denim jacket and pulled out a wad of bills to stuff it into Arc's free hand, "Get me something good, and no gift cards this year."

"Isn't the point of presents getting something for free?" said Arc.

"Is it?" said Ubi. The idea seemed new to her, "And I've been paying Taito for years."

"Busted," said Taito, who seemed to appear out of nowhere. In his big, manly hands were pretty pink shopping bags from a local boutique. He sat next to Arc, "So, what're y'all getting me?"

"What did you get me?" said Ubi.

Taito smirked, "Are you doubting my shopping prowess?"

Mr. Barten, a round, stout man with a moustache for a face greeted Arc and Taito, then went to take an order. This broke the conversation enough for Arc to chime in, "Have either of you spoken to Sophia today?"

Taito scratched his head, "Can't say I have. Ubi?"

"Not me. Why?"

Arc wondered if he should tell them, but said it anyway, "She wanted to see me at the Clock Tower."

"Alone?" said Taito.

"I'll go," said Ubi, "I'll just need to hide her present first."

It was decided that they'd shop first and meet Sophia later. Taito split off to go see Sophia, promising to find out what was up. Ubi dragged Arc to Honey & Darling's Gifts & More, but nothing there seemed like a Ubi or Sophia sort of gift. Ubi tended towards eccentric knickknacks, while Sophia would be happy with anything, but had an almost psychic ability to tell whether a present was heartfelt or not. Taito would be easier to shop for. With that in mind, he texted Ubi and slinked off for the sporting goods shop. Upon walking through the door, he saw it: the perfect gift.

On the highest shelf at the very back of the store, was a long, heavy strikeball bat. It was sanded to a sheen and was unpainted. The handle wasn't even wrapped yet. In front of it was a sign with a daunting price tag and a label reading: "CUSTOM BATS! See front desk."

"How fast can you get it done?" Arc said to the clerk, drawing a pen and paper form his bag. He left the store with a nearly empty jar and a debt to last him a year.

Next, he texted Sophia and they agreed to get everyone together and meet. On the way up, Arc gazed down at the town through the stained glass. He wanted to see his memories again, not in his head, but in glass, his life there for all to see. That way, everyone would remember, and his memories would mean something more than nostalgia. Ubi finished her shopping and went up to meet him at the parapet. Taito arrived late with more ice cream and Sophia followed just behind him. She looked utterly exhausted.

"What I'm about to say is going to sound really weird," Sophia said, leaning on the guard rail, and peeling open her package of taro ice cream, "Arc, have you had any weird dreams lately?"

Arc nearly swallowed his own ice cream, "Yeah, kinda. Why?"

"Did any of these dreams involve the Clock Tower and Ubi's shooting star?" Arc didn't answer, but Sophia saw affirmation in his eyes.

"This is getting a little New Age for me," said Taito, "Ubi found a Wintertide ornament that someone threw out, it's not some magic dream-comet."

Sophia turned to Ubi, "And you? Did you have a Clock Tower dream?"

Ubi shook her head, "So, did you and Arc have the same dream?"

"That's what we're about to find out. Arc, tell me exactly what you remember from the Twilight Gate."

"You were there too? Aw man, this is freaking me out," Arc had to force himself not to hop up and run off. With Sophia's reassurance, he described every moment of his dream, from the stained glass to the voice and its warning. Sophia looked like she was trying to keep calm, "Oh my god, it was real."

"I know, right?!" Arc said, hopping to his feet.

Taito waved his hands as if blowing away smoke, "Hold on, hold on. So, you're having prophetic dreams now?"

"At least I am," said Sophia, who then went on to explain her own trip to the Twilight Gate. When she was done, Taito looked thoroughly annoyed.

"This is ridiculous," he said, "Ubi, you buying this?"

"I mean, it's pretty weird that their dreams were almost identical," she admitted, "But I don't think it means the end of the world."

"What if you just remember having that dream, but you didn't really have it?" said Taito, "Psychology, y'know?"

Ubi nodded agreement, "It's possible."

Arc shook his head, "No, I definitely had it. I thought it was super weird because when I woke up, I didn't feel like I had a dream at all. And that voice was so clear."

Taito surrendered, but didn't seem to believe it, "Okay, well if you guys really believe this stuff, I'm in. So what do we do to stop this guy in black?"

"So when this man in black gets here," said Ubi. She didn't sound too convinced either, "Is he going to kill us? If this shard is so powerful, he'll definitely spare no expense, right?" She took out the shard from her pocket and gazed at it.

"Whatever it is, we need to do something fast," said Arc, "We've only got until the festival."

"Does this mean I don't have to do anymore shopping?" said Taito. When no one laughed, he said, "Look, no one's gonna die, so let's just pull ourselves together."

"Taito-" Sophia began, but Taito cut her off.

"I told Arc that we were gonna stick together forever, and forever doesn't end in four days."

"He's right," said Arc, "All we need to do is figure out how to use the shard, right? It's not impossible. It's just one guy."

"How do we know that voice was telling the truth?" Ubi suggested, "What if its after the shard for its self?"

"It told me that the man in black is 'bringing worlds to their knees' or something. Whoever is talking to us, they clearly have some stake in stopping this guy too."

"Makes sense," said Ubi, despite everything. Then, they all became quiet. Taito and Ubi seemed to be shaken into silence by their friends' apparent madness, and Sophia and Arc couldn't bring themselves to say anything because of their sudden death sentence. Sophia and Ubi went off to the library to see if they could find anything and Taito went to "_wrap my head_ _around this crazy shit." _Arc was alone on the parapet, watching the morning turn to afternoon. He was afraid of the coming of the man in black, but deep down, he was glad. If there really was some evil figure approaching, if there really other worlds and secret places in dreams, then there was more out there, there was more to life than ice cream and nostalgia.

After what felt like a small eternity, he took the steps to the ground and wandered around crowded downtown Journées. He perused the comic book store, stopped by Meatboy for a stack of fries, scanned the gift shop for something to get Ubi and Sophia, and ended up in the alley behind Kapora Gabora, a 24/7 coffee shop covered in owl-themed decorations.

There, a trio of kids loitered and shared a paper coffee cup and a cigarette. The leader of the pack was Laharl, a blue-haired boy who looked like he hadn't slept in a week and whose uniform was always unbuttoned. He looked up at Arc, "Well shit, if it isn't Arc the Lad."

"Oh joy," said Etna, a redhead who wore her hair in pigtails and her uniform like a bathing suit. She took a heavy drag off of the cigarette and passed it to Laharl.

Laharl sucked down and exhaled lungful of smoke, "How's the boyfriend?"

"Oh, don't be mean to Arc just because he has a boyfriend," said Flonne, the third of the group. Flonne looked totally out of place next to Laharl and Etna, with big blue eyes and a bow in her hair.

"I saw he got the crap kicked out of him the other day," said Etna, "It was hilarious. Flonne, get me another smoke before I crush your hopes and dreams."

"Coming right up!" Flonne reached into her penguin-shaped backpack and took out a pack of cigarettes. Etna took one and lighted it.

"So, I heard you got caught tagging the school," said Laharl, passing Arc the cigarette without asking if he wanted it.

Arc took a light drag and tried to talk as if he wasn't coughing up a lung, "Yeah, it's nothing. Weren't you supposed to be in detention today?"

"No, we just think these uniforms are super comfy," said Etna.

"Caught smoking," Laharl continued, "We supposedly have weekend detention for the next two months."

"You guys are gonna get expelled,"

"So? We're going to be stuck in this stupid town forever. Every day's detention, even after you graduate."

"Yeah, forever," Arc felt emptiness in his chest, then filled it with smoke. _What's forever, anyway?_

"You look like someone just killed your dog, dude," said Laharl.

Arc snapped to attention, "Nah, I'm good. Just a lot of stuff on my mind."

"That's new," Etna said in a stream of smoke.

Laharl laughed, "Worrying about his hunky man-lover."

"You're just jealous," said Flonne.

"I swear, Flonne, if you weren't rich-" Etna muttered.

Arc laughed against his will. He didn't know why, but he liked these idiots. Maybe it was because they weren't going anywhere. No college, no career, no splitting up and moving on. They would be loitering, smoking, and spray painting schools for eternity. They had a forever with or without an encroaching doomsday.

Laharl stomped out his cig, "Let's bounce. You coming, Arc?"

"Nah, I've got stuff to do,"

Etna and Flonne followed Laharl out. He called back to Arc, "Catch you later. Let me know when Sophia's single."

_When she's single? She's not already? _Maybe Laharl was just assuming that a pretty girl like Sophia was taken, but the thought pestered him. _Sophia tells me everything. If she had a boyfriend, why would she hide it?_

On the way home, Arc got a text from Sophia. It was as if she knew she was being talked about:

Hey, Arc. I discovered something, but it sounds totally crazy. Call me ASAP. – Sophi.

He did, and almost wished he hadn't. The phone rang twice, then, "I think I saw the future."

Arc took a moment to process what had just been said, "You're getting way too into this."

"No, I'm serious. Listen. In your visit to the Twilight Gate, you saw the past in those windows, but in mine, I saw a bunch of crazy stuff I'd never seen before. Maybe that was the future. The pictures were kind of incomprehensible, so maybe they're prophetic. Not to mention that vision I had before someone woke me up."

Arc leaned against a light post. He was in a stretch of grassy suburb where no one was listening in, "Then who woke you?"

"No idea, but it was like getting hit with a stun gun."

Arc felt something tugging at his shorts. He quickly turned, but was so perplexed by what he saw that he didn't know how to react. "Uh, can I call you back? There's a rabbit wearing a scarf," said Arc, before he actually realized what he was looking at. He hung up on her, knelt down to meet the creature eye-to-eye. It looked like a rabbit, but it was a bright yellow and rosy cheeked, with wide black ears and a black zig-zag tail. It was, in fact, wearing a blue scarf and a pair of big blue goggles on its forehead.

"Uh, hi, little guy," Arc said, looked around to make sure no one was looking. It stared at him, blinking its big dark eyes.

"What are you?" he said, half to himself, half to the creature. He reached over to touch it, and- _Zap! _A tiny bold of static pricked his finger. The creature squealed and fled. Arc ran after it until it disappeared into the bushes. _It was like getting hit with a stun gun._

Arc took out his phone and sent her a text:

"I think I just found your stun gun."

"A rabbit wearing a scarf?" Sophia stared at him from over her coffee cup.

"And goggles." Arc felt a hundred eyes on him: owl eyes. A huge wooden owl spread its wings over the counter at Kapora Gabora, along with an owl grandfather clock, owl pictures, and the store pet: an actual great horned owl perched behind the counter.

"And it shocked you, like, with electricity?"

"Yep. It must have been in the tower when you were in the Twilight Gate. You said you heard a rat or something. Maybe it stayed in there and followed me out because I was alone and you were with Ubi."

"The apocalypse, dream-portals, a shard of mass destruction, now an electric bunny."

"Now that I think of it, it was more like a big mouse. Anyway, what was this about you seeing the futur-"

"You know what this means, right?" Sophia set down her cup and looked at the Clock Tower.

"We have to find it, I know. But I don't get the connection. What does it have to do with anything? And you can't see the future and not tell me-"

"What do little guys in creepy masks have to do with anything? We don't know, but we have to find out. Go home and get a flashlight and a wrench or something. We'll meet in the alley at eleven."

"Are we sneaking into the Clock Tower on a school night?"

"Don't tell anyone but Ubi. I'll get Taito."

As Arc and Sophia went their separate ways, they had no idea that they were being watched. Blank eyeholes gazed down at them from atop the Clock Tower, waiting.

Taito and Sophia waited behind an empty but open Kapora Gabora as Ubi, Arc, and Atari arrived. The handle of a strikeball bat stuck out from Taito backpack.

"Arc, I told you not to tell anyone else! Hi, Atari."

"I didn't. She said she'd tell mom if I didn't take her."

Ubi giggled, "Nice one."

Atari said giggled back, then said, "Where's the magic bunny?"

"Living at the the Clock Tower, apparently," said Taito, "I swear you guys are going crazy."

"I'm not," said Sophia, "No animal like that exists in recorded history. Not only that, but it had access to the Twilight Gate."

"How do we know it's still in the tower?"

"Have any better ideas, Taito?" said Ubi.

Taito grumbled.

"Let's get going," said Arc, "It's creepy out here."

All the shops had closed and not a soul walked the streets. Journées was early to bed and late to rise. Just as in the Twilight Gate, the Clock Tower was black against the night sky.

"Deja-vu," Arc muttered, "What if we're dreaming right now?"

"It should be locked," said Sophia, ignoring Arc's suggestion, "they lock it at night to keep people like Arc from vandalizing anything."

"It's _art_!" Arc whined.

Ubi peeked through the keyhole, "Then how do we get in?"

Sophia produced a key, "By being the city council chairman's daughter."

Inside, a few lights were on, but they were only enough to make silhouettes.

"Here, bunny, bunny, bunny," said Arc. Sophia slapped him over the head, "We're still not allowed to be in here, so keep your voice down."

"We should split up," Ubi suggested.

"I'll go with Taito!" Atari said.

"You should stay with Arc," said Sophia, "You, Arc, and Ubi should check down here and Taito and I will go upstairs.

"But there's nothing down here," said Arc.

"Yeah, but we'll need a lot of hands if it gets away, plus if I get in trouble, I can just say Arc was a bad influence."

"Hilarious."

With that, Sophia and Taito hurried upstairs, while the rest sat on the bottom step, waiting for something to happen. Arc listened intently, but Sophia and Taito were only speaking in unintelligible whispers, which echoed all the way down to ground level. All of a sudden, the whispers grew to hisses. Atari didn't seem to notice, but Ubi looked like she was ignoring it with a conscious effort. _Are they arguing? _He stood up, "Atari, stay with Ubi," and went up to meet them.

"Arc, wait!" Ubi called out. She and Atari followed.

When Arc reached the top, Taito and Sophia were heatedly discussing something.

"Go downstairs, Arc. This little adventure is over."

Taito's eyes and tone were colder than Arc had heard in years. In that moment, he saw something he'd never seen before: a tear in their friendship. "What's wrong? I heard-"

"You two can have your creepy doomsday fantasy, but leave me out of it." Taito walked towards the stairs. He stopped next to Ubi, "Are you in on this too?"

Ubi gave Arc a grave look, "I admit, the dream stuff is weird, but- How do I phrase this? Someone's being delusional and I'm sorry I played into it. If this _'magic twilight shard'_ thing is going to end up hurting our friendship, I'm sorry, guys, I'm with Taito."

"Fine," said Sophia.

Arc felt his eyes tremble. "Taito, don't go."

"I'm not going anywhere, Arc, just try to get a hold of yourself okay? You're too old for this." Taito's footsteps echoed down the stairwell.

Ubi stopped, smiled at Arc, said "See you around Kiddo," and followed Taito down.

"Arc, did you make this all up?" said Atari, palpable disappointment showing on her face.

"No, I swear!"

"It's all true," said Sophia, "We know what we saw and we need to leave _right now_."

"But-" Arc had managed to stop himself from crying, "But what if we _did _make it up? What if-" a light bulb went on in his head, "Sophia, what were you and Taito arguing about?"

Sophia was just an outline, but Arc could tell that she looked like a deer in headlights, "We don't have time. Get Atari out of here. _NOW. _Arc, please."

"No, you're going to tell me what's going on. You two have been hiding something and Ubi knew. Even Professor Sage knew. Why have you and Taito been acting so weird?" he walked over to her, but she turned away.

"Arc, let's just go home," Atari pleaded, tugging on his hoodie. He ignored her.

"You were arguing and then he stormed off. What's been up with you two?"

Sophia's face flared up, _"Arc, they're coming! Get your sister fuck out of here!"_

_"Pichu!"_

Everyone froze. Arc and Sophia turned slowly. There in the darkness, a furry yellow creature wearing a scarf and goggles stood by the stairs, its fur glowing a faint blue, waving its arm wildly towards the stairs as if to say, S_he's right! Go!_

Sophia was quiet for a moment, then said, "It's too late."

Atari spoke in squeaks. She was going to explode, "It's. _SO. CUTE._"

Ubi and Taito's footsteps stopped and a noise like popping flame sounded all over the tower. Taito shouted, "Arc, Sophia, Atari! Downstairs! Run!"

Puffs of black smoke burst along the edges of the room. When they cleared, there were about a dozen tiny men in white masks and red hoods. Some of them brandished flails made of chains and turtle shells fixed with steel spikes.

"Hurry!" Taito called, as the sound of a strikeball bat on metal shot through the air.

"Downstairs!" cried Sophia. She hurried Arc and Atari downwards, but the little men were making their way up. Taito swung his bat to keep them at a distance. Ubi ran up past Sophia to defend from behind. The masked men brandished flails made of chains and steel-spiked turtle shells.

"This is it," said Ubi, "You guys run and Taito 'n' I'll keep them busy." Something began to glow on the back of her hand, but she didn't seem to notice: a perfect green triangle. A red triangle appeared on Taito's and a blue one on Sophia's.

"I saw this coming," Sophia whispered to herself, "Why didn't I stop it?"

Taito backed up to cover her, "Sophia? Come on, pull yourself together,"

_DONG. DONG._

"I'm sorry," she said, unable to stop herself from sobbing, "I could have stopped this."

Taito backed everyone into a group, "Everyone, on the count of three-"

_DONG. DONG. DONG. DONG._

Ubi shouted, "Look out!"

_DONG. DONG. _

Atari shrieked. Arc dove to cover her as a spiked shell came down on him.

_DONG. DONG. DONG. DONG._

**Next Chapter: **The mysterious speaker reveals their self, but are their intentions good, evil, or something in between? Do all five of our heroes make it out of the Clock Tower alive? And what is a Pokémon doing here anyway? Look for more familiar faces, more answers, and more twists in _Mushroom Kingdom: World 1-3: Shin Megami Tensei_.

**Author's Commentary:** See? I promised to make it a little World 1-2, Harry gets his owl mail, so to speak. At this point, the daily life stuff starts drawing to a close and the fantasy/fanfic elements come out of the woodwork. Though it hasn't been hugely apparent, this seemingly original story was always meant to be a fanfic, and with coming chapters, more familiar characters will take the forefront. From this point to the end of World 1, it's all about the countdown. Three days left, clock's a-tickin'.

World 1-2 is a pretty off-kilter chapter, it's all light teen drama until the action sequence kind of swoops in out of nowhere, but I think it's time we saw some Shy Guys doing what they do. This is a fanfic, after all, which means that you're here for some video-game-remix goodness page count is of the essence.

So, did you spot all the cameos? What characters do you want to see show up in future chapters? What worlds do you want to visit? Let me know in the comments and it might just make it to your computer screens.


End file.
